The present invention relates to an optical disk driving apparatus and method for preventing misplacement of an optical disk within the apparatus, and more particularly, to an optical disk driving apparatus for preventing misplacement of an optical disk within the apparatus during loading and a method for ejecting the optical disk from the apparatus before loading when the optical disk is determined to be misplaced.
Compact disk players (CDP), CD-ROM drives, and optical laser disk players (LDP) are widely known as types of optical disk driving apparatuses. The optical disk driving apparatus typically reproduces information recorded on an optical disk. The optical disk driving apparatus is often classified according to the size of disk it accommodates. When the optical disk is inserted into the optical disk driving apparatus, it is essential that the optical disk be properly positioned so that the information can be accurately read from the disk. Even if the optical is not properly positioned during insertion, the optical disk is still often loaded onto a driving means, such as a spindle motor, which is rotatably driven regardless of the inserted state of the optical disk. After the driving means rotates the optical disk, the misplacement of the optical disk is usually recognized and the optical disk can then be unloaded from the optical disk driving apparatus. Accordingly, a considerable amount of time can be wasted due to the misplacement of the optical disk.
One prior art reference that seeks to detect the position of an optical disk within an optical disk driving apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,164 entitled Disc Inclination Detecting Apparatus issued to Yamaguchi et al. on 14 Feb. 1989. In Yamaguchi et al. '164, a light-emitting element projects a beam of light upon the surface of a disk after the disk is loaded upon a rotational axis driven by a motor. And light-sensitive element receives the beam of light reflected by the surface of the disk and generates a corresponding electrical signal. Based on the electrical signal the angle of inclination of the disk can be detected. While conventional art, such as Yamaguchi et al. '164, possesses merit in its own right, I note that the position of the disk is not detected until the disk is loaded upon its rotational axis. Accordingly, such conventional art suffers from the aforementioned inconvenience of requiring the user to wait unnecessarily for the disk's position to be detected.